Winter Wonderland
by TheSnowFalls
Summary: Annie Leonhardt was a rather lonely girl, until she met Maria. She fell in love, and they decided to cement their feelings by running away to a secret honeymoon. Until things went wrong. (AoT/SnK AU where titans don't exist yet; Rated T for slight suggestive themes / the feels)


From a distance, with the implication anyone was close enough to see, a smoke stack, but the size to accomadate a large bonfire would float up from the trees off in the Canadian Wilderness. The actual source of this smokestack, however, would be a crashed plane, still burning and smoldering. The two that have flown this plane were Annie Leonhardt and Maria Pert. Their belongings and supplies where scattered about, strewn everywhere. Some of it salvagable, some of it destroyed. Inside of the plane, still lie Maria, whom was entirely unconcious. She wore a brown coat, with a sweater beneath, a pair of equally heavy pants, snow boots, and a beanie fit snugly over her head. Her glasses would lay in her lap, the lens shattered. The poor girl was still strapped to her seat in the burning wreck of the plane, and Annie, had thankfully managed to get out okay. With little to no injury, the woman would have already escape the wreckage of the plane, disoriented, maybe, but not unconcious. Her companion, quite the contrary.  
Annie would fall to her knees in the snow, which would be covering would cough hard, smoke clogging her lungs. What the fuck happened? One minute, she was flying her and Maria- Her eyes widened and her head jerked around left to right, looking for the girl. Oh, fuck, where was she!? Was she still in the plane? Annie would stagger to her feet, rubbing at her watering eyes. She had to find Maria. "Maria!" She yelled, looking at the wreckage of the plane. There. She spotted her in the front seat, still strapped in and still. A sense of dread filled Annie. Was she...? No. She couldn't be. Stop thinking that way, you damned fool, she scolded herself. She made her way over bits of flaming debris to the front of the plane, half of which was crushed into the dirt in the clearing. She yanked at the door, which had warped itself shut in the intense heat. Fuck. She heaved on the door with all her weight, grunting with the strain, and it screeched as it came loose. She crawled into the main cabin of the plane, tugging at Maria's seatbelt, which was half eaten away by the flames. Holy- She's on fire! Annie quickly tore her out of the cockpit, heaving her out behind her and into the snow to stop the fire from burning her. She then set to rummaging through the front of the plane quickly, hearing the metal squealing in protest as its support began to give way to the inferno. She quickly tore out the first aid kit, the survival kit, and her hunting rifle, chucking them back into the snow and diving out of the plane as it screamed one last time, caving in on itself. A large puff of smoke billowed out the sides of the now completely crushed plane. She landed hard in the snow beside Maria, grunting at the impact.  
Maria would lay unconcious for a long while, her breathing rather shallow, before she'd awake up groggily, her head throwing side to side, and as she came to more fuller senses, she'd sit directly up, letting out hacking coughs, hunching over and balling her hands together to cup over her face, coughing into them hard. She would look up, not really able to see without her glasses, blindly glancing from side to side. "An-... Annie?!" She said, alerted, before screaming out, not seeing the woman. "Annie!?" Maria would cower, pawing about her coat pockets blindly for her eyeglasses. but to no avail what-so-ever.  
Annie grunted, face buried in the snow. She put her hands under her, hoisting herself up to sit upright. "Fuck me.." She groaned, looking at the meager supplies lying in the snow beside her. They weren't much. Not in the slightest. But they wouldn't be dying anytime soon. Hopefully. Annie turned to look at Maria, who was now concious, and screaming out her name. "I'm here, Maria! Calm down!"  
Maria would blink, listening to Annies voice, almost pinpointing it, and she turned her head to hear, scrambling over blindly, reaching to to try and find the woman, before she would finally get a hand on her arm, running her hand down to clasp Annies hand in hers, so tightly, as if afraid to let go. "I c-c-can't see, Annie." She stammered out, staring at the girls shoulder, thinking it to be her face at the moment.  
Annie took the girl's face in one hand, the other clasped tightly to Maria's own. "Hey. Calm down." She spoke softly, soothingly. "We'll figure something out, okay?" She smiled, even though the girl couldn't see it, and kissed her cheek. It was half to calm her down from her panicked state, and half to solidify that what was going on was actually happening. They were stranded. In the wilderness. With no way to call for help. No one knew where they were headed, which meant no one would think to look here. At all. "This is all my fault, Maria..." She said, more to herself, really. Because it was true. Shecouldn't remember what exactly had caused them to crash, but she had been the pilot. and it had been her responsibility to take care of Maria...And she had failed. May as well just kill herself, the luck she's brought to Maria's life.  
Maria would steady her breathing, almost having fallen into a panic attack. She nodded to Annie slowly, her eyes wide, as if she held them like that, she'd be able to see properly. The rims of her eyes nearly pooled over with tears of confusion and fear. "An-... Annie? Where are we? What happened?" She would eventually stammer out, keeping her eyes uneasily trained on the blur of the woman infront of her.  
"I..Something happened to the plane. I don't know what, but..I lost control of it, and the last few seconds we were in the air,I saw this clearing and made a break for it. We wouldn't have made it crashing into those trees." Annie gestured to the massive pines surrounding them, the shortest of them well over 100 feet tall. She put her face in her hands, drawing shuddering breaths in between her scorched fingers. "A-And now we're s-stuck here...All my f-fault.." Annie would began to cry quietly, the mental strain of being in this situation, and it being her fault, driving her over the edge. She broke down in the snow, sobbing, beating her fists on the ground angrily at the unfairness of it all, frustrated beyond belief.  
Maria wouldn't exactly see any of her gestures, but she'd pan her gaze about, noticing the difference between the brownish blurs of what she imagined to be trees, and the more vast blur of white that she imagined to be the clearing. "It's not y-your fault Annie..." She would look back to her, before coming to sit back on her heels, pulling the woman close as she began to cry, smoothing back her hair. "It wasn't your fault, it's fine, we're gonna come out alright. She pulled the womans head to her shoulder, running her fingers through her hair. "We'll be able to do something, I'm sure." She spoke, in a reasurring tone, disregarding her own blind fear to comfort the woman.  
Annie sobbed silently into her shoulder, shoulders shaking. It had been her fault, all of it. It was supposed to be a simple trip out to a trading outpost in the northern waters. Huh, what a trip it had turned out to be. She was somewhat comforted by Maria's attempt to calm her down, and was glad she had attempted it at least. After a few minutes, she stopped crying and pulled her head back from Maria's shoulder. She looked at her face with a mixture of fear, respect, and love. "I'm s-sorry..." She whispered, rubbing at her eyes with raw hands, covered in scorch marks where the flames had nipped at her when she was trying to free Maria from the plane. A rather nasty burn ran the length of her right hand from the tip of her thumb to her wrist, but the snow had numbed it beyond feeling anyways. She wondered where else she had hurt herself in the mad scramble to escape the plane.  
Maria kept her gaze blindly focused on Annies face, enveloping the woman in her arms warmly. "Are you hurt, Annie?" She would ask, blindly running her hands over Annies arms, up to her hands, her finger tips grazing Annies skin gently as she would feel about her. "I-I'm fine, but what about you?" Maria would have some burn marks about her jawline, but they were incredibly minor. Her gloves were burnt through slightly, and again, just minor. Her eyes held worry, though they still blindly would gradiate away from annies face, a mix of discombubulation and confusion in general impairing her focus. "Can I help you at all, what do you need me to do?" She'd inquire.  
Annie would slowly begin to check herself over for any injuries. She would notice the burn in her hand, and bite her lower lip. That could easily get infected. She continued her scan, noting the jagged gash running through the palm of her right hand where Maria's seatbelt had cracked in half when she was pulling her out, and cut her open. That was going to hurt like a bitch. Other than some minor burns on her face and a couple bruised ribs from when the plane hit the snow, she was relatively okay. Nothing life-threatening. "I'm f-fine...Did you lose your glasses?" Annie looked up at the obviously visually impaired girl, who hadn't the ability to focus on anything clearly, from her wide eyes, to them watering from the stinging air that was most certainly at or below zero, and how she wouldn't close them because it was the only way to see. "Fuck...That's my f-fault too, I didn't grab them.." She mentally berated herself for being so foolish as to forget her glasses in her haste to collect the useful things from the plane. She would lok at the crumpled, molten heap then, which the plane fuel was fueling the inferno for easily. They wouldn't be getting anything out of THAT anymore.  
Maria would blink, chewing on her lip. She inwardly questioned whether the woman was entirely fine or not, having gotten a quick feel along her hands, feeling her marred skin. She trusted Annies judgement over her own, however, being as she had proper eyesight. "I... I had a spare pair of eye-glasses, somewhere..." She would murmur to Annie, though not remembering exactly where she had put them. Maria would pan her gaze to view upon the orange-yellow blur of the burning wreckage, her eyes wide, the light shimmering in them. Maria would look back to Annie now, here eyes flicking about, desperately trying to make out features. She'd try desperately not to break down right now, her throat tensing, her expression confused and fearful, she had no idea what to do, not one bit. She was lost in many more ways then one.  
"Check...Check your pockets." Annie took a few deep breaths to control herself, knowing full well Maria wasn't used to being in a situation anything like this. She ran her left hand through her hair, groaning. This was going to be a real problem if they couldn't find her glasses. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, they were numbing already from the frigid temperature. They needed to find a place to hole up in, quickly before they froze to death. She had spotted an outcropping on the far side of the clearing, about a half a mile away. They should break for there as soon as they gathered what meager supplies they had.  
Maria would pat at herself once again, searching her outermost pockets, finding nothing, before she would unzip her coat slightly, digging through the inner breast pockets. "Wh-what did you get out of the wreckage?" She would ask as she dug through her pockets, finding her wallet, keys, and then finally, the spare she kept about. She'd pull out the case, fumbling to open it. "Oh thank god..." She would whisper, finally popping the case open, slipping on the thinner pair of glasses, She would blink as she peered through the lens, and would scan the area over once more, and Maria would gulp down, a more clear fear coming over her.  
The Whiskey Senpai: Annie grunted, rolling to her feet. She picked up her rifle bag, slinging it over her should and carrying it by the strap. She bent down and picked up the survival kit, that looked somewhat like a duffel bag, and tosses it to Maria, scooping up the first aid kit, a rather pitiful looking bag, about the size of both of her fists put together, and slipped it inside her coat, zipping it back up. "Not much..Come on, we have to hurry." Annie walked over to the girl sitting in the snow, hooking an arm under hers and hoisting her to her feet. "We'll freeze to death if we don't move it."  
Maria would catch the bag, drawing a breath at it's weight. As she was pulled up to her feet by Annie, she would sling the bag over her shoulder. There was no time to waste, no time to keep crying or sitting around. She'd have to get over her fear and get a move on. She would turn and hurry off with Annie, to the outcropping the woman had indicated.  
They would arrive at the outcropping of light grey stones about 10 minutes later, lugging their things and heavy clothing along. Annie pulled up short, eyeing a recess in the rock some 4 feet above her head, that shrunk back into the rock what looked to be 8 feet, just from what she could see on the ground. She would motion up at it to Maria, getting down on one knee. She would cup her hands together in front of her on the ground, waiting for her to get the message.  
Maria would look up at the nook in the rock, looking to Annie and nodding, first unslinging the bag and tossing it up. It was more of a full five feet for Maria, but that didn't really matter. She would put one foot in Annies hand, and as she was hoisted up, she threw her arms onto the edge of the recess, and scrambled up onto it, before laying on her stomach and reaching down for Annies hand, to pull her up now.  
Annie hooked her hand in Maria's, feet scrabbling on the rock to push herself up. She got a hand on the edge of the rock, and using Maria and her own strength, would hoist herself up and into the hole. She would look around at it a bit. it was around 5 and a half feet in height, and about 7 feet across. She peered into the back of the cave, noting that it was much deeper than expected. about 16 feet, she guessed. Plenty of room. She would crawl towards the back of the litle cave, seeing the back 10 feet had a more raised roof, she sat under it. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable, but it was room enough. Now they needed to do something to stop the wind blowing through the front, which defeated the purpose of having shelter if it didn't block the cold.  
Maria would look about the cave, her brows crooked up in curiousity. Her eyes shimmered behind the lenses of her eye-glasses as she peered about. "It's a lot bigger then I thought..." She would wrap her arms about herself, shivering slightly, before going to the survival kit, the same thought in mind about blocking out the cold. Perhaps, soon, making a door of sorts. She'd look about for a tarp, or something, her next idea to empty out the bag and cut it up to turn it into a tarp in itself.  
Annie sighed, closing her eyes for a minute. She had to recollect what had happened. Crashing, saving Maria, the supplies...This cave. This cave was home now, at least for a while. They wouldn't be leaveing here anytime soon. "Maria? Check what all is in the survival kit, we need to tally up what we have." She would rub her head, wincing as she felt the seared flesh of her right hand against her frozen forehead. She had almost forgotten about it. She reach into her coat, pulling out the tiny first aid kit bag, and unzipped it, revealing a small bottle of rubbing alcohol, some anti-bacterial salve, and two rolls of gauze, along with a small glass bottle that was labeled 'Whiskey Shot', containing what she presumed whiskey to steady one's nerves if they were in pain. She took the salve, popping the lid and applying it to the burn. A sudden thought went through her head. What if her hand wasn't numb? What if the nerve endings had been frazzled by the fire? Ugh, she'd find out in a little bit. She rubbed the salve into the burn, then the gash on her palm, and applied one of the gauze rolls to her hand, wrapping it tightly around her right hand and part way up her arm. The end of the roll had two little metal hooks in them, and she stuck them through a previously rolled strip of gauze, holding it together effectively. Maybe she wouldn't die of infection out here. Not yet, anyways.  
Maria would go about sorting about the contents of the survival kit, laying it all down flat about the bag, sub-conciously organizing it on the flat ground of the cave. "Erm... this looks like... enough..." She would mumble to herself. In the back of her head she was already fabricating ideas to try and get the two out of there, ranging from trekking from place to place, or to building something up for the time being. The basics. What they needed to get done first. Priorities. She would furrow her brow, the obstacles rather blatant and clear to her.  
"I think there should be a knife or something in the survival bag. Dump the stuff from it, and cut the bag along the seams until it's one big flat piece of cloth. It's a little burnt, but that shouldn't affect it too much.." Annie said softly, rising to her feet and bumping her head on the raised celing above her, swearing and falling down to her knees. "Fuck me, why am I so tall.." She muttered, rubbing at her head and crawling back out from the cave to the opening in the rock wall, swinging her legs over the side and letting them dangle there. She would have to make a way up here, that didn't require two people if something were to...Happen to either one of them.  
Maria would nod to Annie, quickly taking the things out of the bag and organizing them off into the corner. She'd take the combat knife, and quickly cut at the seams of the bag, and straightened it out into one big cloth. Maria froze for a moment, before quickly rushing over to grab the hatchet, and checking to see how sharp it was. She would look over to the portal of the cave, knowing that the tarp wouldn't stay there on it's own. Her first thought was to get some wood, stick it in the portal to hold the tarp in, just some make-shift stuffs. She looked to the bag, torn to be a flat piece of cloth. She would hold it up to the entrance of the cave, and eventually determined she could take a long strip from the cloth, while still letting it be big enough to cover the hole. She took the knife, and cut herself a long strip, tossing it to lay across her neck like a scarf.  
Annie took the hatchet in one hand, reaching back behind her to grasp it. When it was helf firmly in her good hand, she pushed herself out of the cave mouth, grunting as she hit the ground. She bent her knees as she touched down, to absorb some of the shock, and quickly stood back up straight, peering around. Nothing hostile around this area. Not yet, anyways. She walked about 30 yards or so away from the mouth of the cave, coming up to one of the towering pines. It had several low hanging branches, covered thickly in green needles. She hacked away at the base of such limbs, collecting a decent amount of them. They were a bit thin and spry, but they weren't being used for stability. She had broken into a slight sweat, and began to head back towards the rocks with a large bushel of the leafy branches, when she heard it. A loud snorting, and a scratching, grating noise. She froze in her tracks, her head turning slightly to the side. A moose, about 7 feet in height, was standing at the treeline, less than 10 yards from her. And it wasn't too happy she was taking it's scratching posts.


End file.
